Third Term for Trump? Dershowitz Lays Out How

President Trump has been kicking around a familiar hypothetical in private: Could he somehow serve yet another term as president? Per the Wall Street Journal, Trump met this week in the Oval Office with lawyer and longtime ally Alan Dershowitz, who handed him a draft of a forthcoming book titled Could President Trump Constitutionally Serve a Third Term? Dershowitz says he walked Trump through his view that the Constitution's two-term limit isn't entirely settled in every possible scenario, even as the 22nd Amendment bars anyone from being elected more than twice. Trump, he says, listened with interest, smiled, and then moved on to other matters.

Dershowitz, who helped defend Trump during his first impeachment, insists he doesn't think Trump will actually try to run again. Publicly, Trump has said the Constitution is "pretty clear" that he can't. Senior aides sound similar notes: White House chief of staff Susie Wiles recently told Vanity Fair that Trump "knows he can't run again," while spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said only that the country would be fortunate if he could serve longer.

Trump himself, however, has dropped hints about a third run, including selling "Trump 2028" merch online, per the Independent. And Dershowitz's book, set to be published next year, ponders various theories on how Trump could return. In one scenario, Trump runs anyway, wins, and Electoral College members then abstain en masse, throwing the decision to Congress on the ground that lawmakers would be "selecting" rather than "electing" a president. Constitutional scholars are deeply skeptical.

Hofstra law professor James Sample called the abstention theory "absurd" and said the only remotely plausible path would involve making Trump House speaker, then having two Trump allies win the White House on a promise to resign, making Trump next in the line of succession. Dershowitz's ideas have reportedly intrigued major donor Miriam Adelson, who reacted to his draft with, "Oh my God, I hope this can happen," then jokingly urged Trump at a White House Hanukkah event to "think about it" as the crowd chanted "four more years."